All Stars threat sparks call by Indigenous ex-players for greater say in game

Leading Indigenous ex-players insist Chris Sarra's place on the ARL Commission must be taken by another Indigenous commissioner and want a body set up below the NRL that would control funding at grassroots level.

The threat to the future of Saturday night's All Stars fixture has galvanised the former players, led by Larry Corowa and Doug Delaney, to form a group to lobby for a greater say in Indigenous issues within the game.

With Sarra having advised an ARLC meeting in Auckland last week that he intended to stand down in the next 12-18 months, Corowa said his replacement must also be Indigenous and called for more people with rugby league backgrounds to be responsible for decision making in the game.

Departing: NRL commisioner Chris Sarra plans to step aside.

Photo: Jeffrey Chan

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"A lot of our mob play rugby league throughout the country areas and they love rugby league so I would be pushing for an Indigenous person on that commission," Corowa said.

"What I would really like to see is the establishment of an independent Indigenous rugby league unit that sits under the commission and is run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

"We want to control our own destiny and work with the NRL but we would make the decisions and control the whole unit ourselves. All the money [for Indigenous programs] that comes into the game through the government and private business would go there."

Corowa said this week's announcement by NRL head of football Todd Greenberg that the future of the All Stars game would be reviewed was the final straw for the former players - some of whom have been at odds with the ARLC since Knight was sacked as chairman of the ARL Indigenous Council three years ago.

Up in arms: Larry Corowa during his days as a Balmain speedster in 1980.

Photo: John O'Gready

"How can Todd Greenberg say they might pull the plug on an event like All Stars that is community driven, good for the game, is about reconciliation, closing the gap and all of those sorts of things," Corowa said. "Aboriginal people need this game because they don't see their idols like the Greg Inglis's, Johnathan Thurstons and all of those players up close. It is just a great event for everyone concerned but in the past couple of years they want to put more money into the Nines.

"I haven't been happy with how [ARLC chairman] John Grant is running the game and in my opinion Chris Sarra should go now so we can put someone in there who can do some really good stuff.

"A lot of the ex-players are filthy that they can't get anything done, the NRL controls all of the Indigenous rugby league stuff and it is just holding us back. It is time for a broom to come through the advisory council.

​"We as the former players have really had enough of what is going on and blokes like Eric Simms and Ewan McGrady, the Rothmans Medal winner, don't even get a ticket to the All Stars game.

"We need a voice for the Indigenous Rugby League community and if this doesn't happen we will have to march on the NRL. We just want some blokes in there with rugby league experience, who have played the game and know the community."

Delaney said there needed to be a greater understanding of cultural governance within the game.

"It's quite sad to even think the NRL would even think about scrapping the Indigenous All Stars concept after all the hard work that was put into getting it off the ground. It's so disappointing," Delaney said.

"If something isn't done in an robust fashion we will keep losing Indigenous players from the game of rugby league. That is why cultural governance is so important in today's society. The social well-being of our people has always been passed down to each generation through cultural governance, this is what makes us."